Ruth
 United Kingdom
6672 Posts
Joined: 13 Feb 2002
Status: offline |  Posted - 30 May 2005 : 17:47:18  
| I think Boca Grande is the Tarpon fishing capital of the world. In fact they have just had a tournament there and will hold the world's richest one in July This is from this weeks Boca Beacon:
"The week of May 27, 2005
Team 'Spook' wins guides tournament
Give Capt. Nat Italiano a choice between luck and skill, and the winner of the inaugural Boca Grande Fishing Guides Association Invitational Tarpon Tournament readily admits that he'll take the luck.
And as angler Jim Sink was fighting the 108-pounder on Tuesday from the stern of "Spook," Italiano had the right guy in the right place.
"Jim is a very lucky angler, he's not really all that skilled, but he's just lucky," Nat laughed. "I'd rather have luck over skill, I'd rather be lucky than good."
Italiano's team of Sink, Bob Franklin, Howard Franklin and Phil Carroll used their luck - and their skill - to take home the first place prize of more than $38,000 in a tournament that broke the island's big money tournament jinx with 13 fished weighed or released during the two-day event in Boca Grande Pass.
Capt. Lamar Joiner Sr. aboard "Sudden Impact" took second place money of $22,800 with a 100-pound tarpon. Third place went to Capt. Tim Smith aboard "Sundown." In addition to winning the Jay Joiner Memorial Trophy, Smith's team took home $15,200.
There were 33 boats entered in the two-day tournament.
Sink fought the fish for about 45 minutes before it was safely to the boat. "He took his time with him," Italiano said of Sink. "We were very careful."
Italiano said the fish was caught in about 80 feet of water - "the deepest part of the pass" - using a squirrelfish.
"He never jumped, which was probably a good thing," the veteran captain said. "He stayed deep. At first I was thinking it was not that big, but then it pulled down again. That's when I knew we had a decent fish - but not a monster. We didn't know how big it really was, however, until we got it to the boat."
Italiano said a release was never a consideration.
"If it's over 100 pounds, you've got to weigh it in this situation."
After the weight ... came the wait.
With an hour and 40 minutes remaining in the tournament, Team Spook watched the pass and listened to the radio. In the waning moments of the tournament, Italiano sensed his chances fading when Capt. Jimmy Robertson called in a tarpon.
"Everybody and their brother was calling me to say that Jimmy's fish had me beat," Italiano said. "I finally turned off the radio and the cell phone. It's pretty hard to wait."
But Italiano knows about waiting. In 1994 when Italiano won the World's Richest with the same team, he had to wait an entire day - and suffer through 51 fish being caught - before clinching the win.
His luck would hold. Robertson's fish, caught aboard the "Julie Jean," didn't budge the scales beyond 100 pounds.
Sink, he said, is an old friend from Tampa. "I've known him all my life. We went to junior high school together and he's been fishing with me since 1993."
Italiano said the success of the guides tournament bodes well for tarpon fishing and Boca Grande.
"If the fishing remains good for us, certainly the anglers will be excited," he said. "It's nice having a big tournament like this when there are fish in the pass. If you are going to have a tournament, have it when the fish are here."
Italiano said he liked the atmosphere of the event.
"It was relaxed, everyone was happy, there was a lot less pressure and there were more fish," he said. "It felt good to fish in a tournament like that."
Can the guides tournament co-exist with the Boca Grande Area Chamber of Commerce-sponsored World's Richest Tarpon Tournament?
"There is room for both, but if they (the chamber) continue to have the World's Richest in July, this one will put them out of business," the former chamber director said. "I hate to say that."
"They need to get together and have one big tournament."
The awards party was held at the Gasparilla Inn Beach Club with music by the Boca Bande. A VIP boat for the tournament was supplied by Marine Max."
My Dad went out sea fishing when we stayed in Cape Haze last December and said it was the best fishing he had ever experienced
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Ruth
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